Chapter 146: Dark Mist

Thank you [UpUpDowndown] For your gift - A Magic Castle

Really thank you (^_^). I don’t have much things, so... I just can give more 3 bonus Chapter for this. However, I am a bit busy, so I won’t be able to upload everything today. Please bear with me. (T_T)

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A female guard less than ten meters away from Meira suddenly vanished behind the black mist. Her footsteps could still be heard clearly, and Meira could even hear the clinking of metal armor, but when she reached toward the sound, her hand touched nothing but cold emptiness.

"Captain! Report your position!" Meira called out, summoning the Wind element into a vortex around her.

The mist was swept away, revealing a stretch of wall and several female warriors frantically searching for their comrades. Yet in less than a breath, it gathered again so quickly that the faces before Meira were swallowed by blackness once more.

She frowned and immediately changed methods, sending thin currents of wind like threads sweeping across the plaza. They could sense obstacles, but whenever they passed through the mist, they kept sending back false signals.

"Lady Meira!" The brown-haired captain’s voice echoed from some unknown direction. "We can’t see the north gate! Someone reported that monsters have crossed the second checkpoint!"

"Tell everyone to retreat to the inner defensive area. Do not chase sounds on your own!" Meira immediately replied, keeping her voice loud enough for the captain to hear clearly. "I’ll set up a protective barrier around the medical station first."

She raised both hands. Wind, Water, Earth, and Lightning elements appeared one after another, weaving into a membrane around the rows of buildings near the plaza. The powerful mana gradually allowed the female warriors within its range to see one another again, but the distant areas remained hidden beneath the mist.

Meira gritted her teeth. She could create a storm powerful enough to destroy the entire forest, but with wounded soldiers and civilians right below her, unleashing her power carelessly would be no different from destroying the place she needed to protect with her own hands.

"Erik!" She called through the communication device, her fingers tightening hard enough to make the crystal casing creak. "Master, can you hear me?"

The only reply was static, along with sounds that resembled his voice but were stretched and distorted. Meira tried changing frequencies, but the result was the same.

A cold frustration began rising within her, especially when she remembered that Erik had been holding Elowen’s hand beside her only moments ago.

"Don’t tell me right in front of my eyes..." she muttered, thin bolts of lightning flashing through her green eyes.

Laviana ran out of the mist, her red hair slightly disheveled, one hand holding a recording device that had gone completely dark. The moment she saw Meira, she let out a breath of relief. "I finally found you! The main camera has lost signal. The control panel only shows black. Where are Erik and Elowen?"

"I’m looking for them." Meira saw the tension on Laviana’s face and forced down her anger. "Help the captain stabilize the logistics. If you find Master, tell me immediately. Don’t go alone."

Laviana nodded, but before she could turn away, the ground suddenly shook. A deep, muffled roar sounded behind the mist, followed by the noise of hundreds of tree trunks being crushed at once.

Both of them looked up. The shadow of a colossal creature slowly slithered out of the northern forest, its body coiling into spirals that blocked out an entire section of the sky.

The thing before Meira resembled a gigantic serpent, but its head was a structure of white bone with deep, hollow eye sockets.

Along its body, other skull-shaped masses protruded, as though countless creatures had been forced together into a single body.

Black tendons like tree roots spread beneath its rotting skin, slowly swelling every time the monster moved.

Laviana unconsciously took half a step back. "What the hell is that thing?"

Meira did not answer immediately. She noticed that wherever the serpent touched the ground, the Dark Mist gathered into dense streams before spreading to both sides, connecting to the fog that covered the outpost.

She immediately fired a blade of wind at the creature, wanting to test its reaction before using greater power.

Boom!

The attack tore through its front body, shattering the white bone into hundreds of fragments. But before the pieces had even finished falling, the black tendons twitched and pulled the remaining bones back into place.

The monster roared and spewed a thick stream of mist from its mouth toward the medical area.

Meira’s expression changed. She raised a hand and created a wall of Earth element in its path. The mist slammed into the surface, leaving black trails that crawled like living things.

She clenched her hand, forcing the layer of earth and stone to grow thicker and stop it, then turned to Laviana. "Get everyone deeper inside! Now!"

"What about you?"

"I have to stop this thing."

Laviana looked at the serpent, then at the protective barrier that had just been erected around the treatment area. She understood that if Meira left her position, that creature could spray mist directly at people who lacked the strength to defend themselves.

Laviana bit her lip, then finally turned and ran toward the brown-haired captain leading the wounded soldiers away.

Meira took a deep breath and slowly raised both hands. The Lightning element began to surge along her arms, but every time she tried to gather it in one place, the black mist wrapped around the flow of mana as if trying to bend the attack off course. She immediately stopped, rare caution appearing in her eyes.

"Dark Mist..." Meira murmured, looking at the black tendons twitching across the monster’s body. The veins on the giant serpent reminded her of the residue she had extracted from Saraya’s body. They were not exactly the same, but both had a way of clinging to their host’s mana.

In the old records about crystal fragments beyond the Great Ice Wall, she had once read a name connected to that form of corruption. "Could it be... Rahapt is trying to infiltrate Silver Moon?"

The serpent suddenly lunged downward. Meira immediately raised a massive stone pillar from the ground, knocking aside the skull that came crashing toward her. The impact made the entire wall tremble, but she did not give it a chance to advance further.

A layer of water wrapped around the black tendons before instantly freezing, temporarily pinning the monster against the stone wall.

She knew she was stronger than it in terms of direct destructive power alone. The problem was that strands of Dark Mist kept flowing down from the crack in the protective dome, restoring the parts of its body she destroyed.

Every time she wanted to leave and search for Erik, the monster turned toward the medical station, forcing her back into defense.

"You picked the right place to be a nuisance." Meira pressed her lips together, cold anger in her voice. "But don’t think I’ll let you get past me."

...

Not far away, Erik and Elowen were following a ruined stone wall, trying to find a way out of the mist. Roars and the clash of armor echoed from all directions, sometimes close, sometimes distant, making it impossible for them to know where the army was.

The scent of damp earth mixed with the stench of monsters filled the air, while black mist curled around their ankles as if trying to hold them there.

"Erik! This way!"

The brown-haired captain’s voice suddenly rang out from the left. Elowen immediately turned her head, but Erik caught her wrist, his eyes fixed on the darkness between two trees.

"Don’t follow it. Earlier, I heard you calling from ahead even though you were standing beside me." He gave her hand a light squeeze. "This thing can imitate other people’s voices."

Elowen pressed her lips together, tightening her grip on her bow. "If even sound can’t be trusted, what do we do?"

"Follow the wall. At least rocks don’t know how to imitate Meira’s voice."

Elowen gave a small laugh, but it immediately died when a black shadow lunged out of the mist. The monster resembled a wolf, with abnormally long front limbs and gray skin stretched over black veins swelling like tree roots. It opened its mouth full of sharp teeth and leaped straight at Erik’s chest.

"Careful!" Elowen had barely raised her bow when the enemy was already too close.

Erik did not retreat. He turned halfway aside, allowing the claws to graze past his chest before suddenly thrusting his spear upward. The metal tip pierced through the creature’s jaw, broke through its skull, and emerged from the back of its neck.

The force of its charge made his feet slide across the ground, but both arms remained firmly locked around the spear shaft, his muscles tightening as he held the struggling beast before him.

Dark blood ran down the weapon, while the heavy corpse was stuck firmly on the spearhead. Erik did not waste time pulling the spear out by hand. He raised his foot and kicked straight into its chest, using his physical strength to fling the corpse off the metal blade.

The sound of breaking bones rang out sharply. The monster’s body crashed into the bushes, snapping dry branches before hitting the ground.

Elowen stood stunned. She had watched Erik train with Meira before, but at the time, he always stopped his attacks before causing injury. Now, his blood-smeared face, focused eyes, and brutally decisive movements were completely different from his usual self.

"Are you alright?" Erik turned and asked, as if what had just happened had only been a strike in the training room.

"I..."

Before Elowen could answer, a second monster lunged out from the right. The spear was too far away, and the enemy moved so fast that Elowen could not find a safe angle to shoot.

"Right side!"

Erik released one hand from the spear shaft, turned his hips with the beast’s momentum, and drove his fist straight into the top of its head.

Crack!

The monster’s skull shattered beneath the blow. Blood and small pieces of bone sprayed across the damp leaves, while its airborne body suddenly folded in on itself and slammed down at Erik’s feet.

He took half a step back to avoid its still-twitching claws, then opened the hand that had struck it to inspect it. His knuckles had turned red and stung slightly, but there was no sign of serious injury.

Even Erik was briefly stunned. He knew the Primal Incubus physique far surpassed ordinary Black Iron, but crushing a monster’s head with his own fist felt very different from testing his strength against Meira.

"Looks like she had a point when she always made me hold back," he muttered.

Elowen looked at him, and an unexpected warmth surged through her chest. The stench of blood before her should have frightened her, but what she felt most clearly was the sight of Erik standing in front of her.

Not a word ordering her to sacrifice herself, not a single movement of avoidance. He was facing the monsters with his own body.

’This is my man...’